This Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe is moist, buttery, and full of cinnamon flavor. It’s perfect as an afternoon snack, a breakfast pastry or an after dinner dessert!
A homemade cinnamon coffee cake recipe doesn’t get much better than this Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Streusel Crumb Topping!
While I am generally happy to share every recipe that I post, there are some that I am REALLY excited to share- and this is one of them. I’m not a huge breakfast eater, but one thing that I can never resist is coffee cake. Take a look at Coffee Works website where you can learn more ideas of how to enjoy even more your daily coffee.
This is also why I rarely ever buy or make it- I can’t stay out of it.
I love the general idea behind a coffee cake recipe. Someone clearly really wanted to eat some sort of spice or fruit laden cake at 7 AM, but could still hear their mother’s voice wheedling at them, “You don’t eat cake for breakfast!”
“Hush Mom, this is COFFEE cake. Its totally different. You eat it in the morning with coffee! It’s breakfast! Its practically health food.”
I’m not going to sit here and lie to anyone and tell you that this moist coffee cake is health food. It is most definitely not. I WILL tell you that this is the best cinnamon coffee cake and came out exactly the way that I had hoped. It has a light, buttery crumb, but yet is still somehow just a little dense.
There is a ribbon of cinnamon filling through the middle and it is piled with a cinnamon streusel on top. It DOES go perfectly with coffee… and ice cream too. Don’t worry- I won’t tell Mom.
What is Coffee Cake, exactly?
Coffee cake is a butter-based cake that, contrary to what the name implies, does NOT contain coffee. Its somewhere between a regular cake and a pound cake in terms of weight and texture. It’s not supposed to be over-the-top sweet, and is meant to be paired with a cup of coffee- hence the name!
What you’ll need for this breakfast coffee cake recipe:
- Hand mixer – Having a hand mixer really comes in handy for making your recipes. Be sure to grab this [easyazon_link identifier=”B001CH0ZLE” locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]Hand Mixer[/easyazon_link] to get your recipes made right!
- Mixing bowl – These bowls are perfect for mixing up any recipe and even come in three different sizes. Get your [easyazon_link identifier=”B00LGLHUA0″ locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]3-Piece Glass Mixing Bowl Set[/easyazon_link] here.
- Food processor – I recommend using a food processor to make your toppings required in this recipe. This [easyazon_link identifier=”B00755KNCS” locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]Food Processor[/easyazon_link] should do the trick and even has dishwasher safe parts!
- Baking pan – This [easyazon_link identifier=”B001PKUXN8″ locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]9 by 9 Inch Covered Pan[/easyazon_link] is great for any kind of baking. You’ll get some great use out of it!
If you Like This homemade Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe, you’ll also like easy dessert recipes:
NOTE: after multiple readers telling me that they find the topping to be too heavy on the flour, I am amending the topping to reduce the flour by 1/4 cup and increasing the butter by one tablespoon.
Update (5/6/2016): Alright. As I keep getting comments that say that the batter is too thick and the cake is too dry and the topping has too much flour and its too sweet (and yet simultaneously not sweet enough!), I decided to remake this and test the recipe for the third time. It came out just like it did the first and second times I made it.
This recipe is based off my Blueberry Buckle with Streusel Topping, which is always a major success and I have never faced any complaints. The only thing that I changed was using softened butter in the topping, rather than cold butter, which I have now amended in the recipe ingredients. I’m sitting here and eating a piece of it and wondering why anyone would want this either more or less sweet.
I don’t think its dry in any way- in fact the cake is quite moist. Its a butter based cake batter, so its not going to be runny like a boxed cake mix would be. As I state in the instructions, using an offset spatula makes spreading the batter over the filling much easier. I also took pictures at each step, so you can see what everything should look like along the way. These are below the instructions.
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Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3/4 cup milk
Filling
- 3 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Topping
- 5 tablespoon butter softened
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides occasionally. Add the vanilla and egg, mix in.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add one half of it to the mixer, and when mostly combined, add the milk. Once the milk is mostly incorporated, add the rest of the flour.
- To make filling: in a small bowl, pinch together the softened butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon until soft crumbs form.
- To make topping: add the butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until coarse crumbs form (You can cut in with forks or a pastry cutter, but I am not patient enough for that!).
- Grease a 9x9 baking pan. Pour in ½ of cake batter, and spread to all four corners. Sprinkle the filling over top, then pour in remaining cake batter, and spread carefully across the top, disturbing the filling layer as little as possible (an offset spatula works well for this).
- Sprinkle the topping over the top and press lightly so it adheres.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool to warm on wire rack before serving.
Notes
Lisa says
I made this for a friend and they said it was the best coffee cake they’ve ever had! Delicious!
Cathy G says
Made this with very softened butter, spread second layer carefully over filling per instructions and made topping in processor…baked for 43 minutes – perfection!! Delicious…the generous amount of cinnamon makes this cake shine!
Christine says
Years ago I tried making a coffee cake. It was dry and just not good at all. It turned me off and I never bothered to find a new recipe….until now. My son requested it and I groaned. I searched and found your recipe. I baked it earlier and just tried a piece. It is so good! It’s moist with lots of flavor. I love that there is a filling with cinnamon and also the topping, and plenty of each. I will definitely be making this again. I would not change anything.
Kristen says
This cake was SO good! Followed the amendments and the topping was still a bit flour-y at room temp. When warmed in the microwave, which is how I like it anyway, I didn’t notice it.
I’m thinking about making it in muffins for easier servings. Could you recommend changes in baking time and temp for regular sizes muffins?
Thanks!
Elise says
Delicious!!! I decided to make half the recipe so I used a loaf pan. The only thing I changed was to use sour cream instead of milk because it’s what I had on hand. It came out great!! Since it was half the recipe, I baked for about 30 minutes. Next time I will double the topping!
Thank you for this yummy recipe!
Lisa says
This cake came together quick and easily and is absolutely delicious! You must try it!
Maggie says
This came out very nice and everyone said it was good, but I thought it had a raw flour taste. Maybe it was just my flour. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good.
Deb says
I’ve made this 3 times in the past couple of weeks. I had to change it up one time because I was short on milk. I added some apple sauce and buttermilk to make up for my milk shortage. The recipe is very forgiving and is delicious every time, no matter what. I’m always sad when it’s gone.
Mallory d says
Absolutely heavenly. Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it exactly as written, but I had to bake in a 8.25 x 8.25 pan and it was perfect. I printed this and it’s going in my recipe arsenal. Thank you!
Cynthia says
My hand mixer just broke so I mixed the ingredients with a fork. Added the toppings, cooked the cake, let it cool and tasted it. It came out tasting great.
Jeremy Ray Kynion says
I kept looking around town for a decent coffee cake, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize I could make my own. This recipe was perfect! Moist, tender, crumbly, sweet, and absolutely delicious! The batter is tricky to work with, but it turns out so beautiful. Patience and attention to detail pays off here. I will be making this again.
Diane says
Best Coffee cake! Only recipe I will use..
Lauren says
I just want to tell you, I have made this recipe every Christmas for the past several years. As I make it today to prep for tomorrow, I just want to thank you for making our Christmas morning smell absolutely magical as we open our gifts! Merry Christmas to you and your family!